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The Big Picture – Checking atrocities against Dalits

The Big Picture – Checking atrocities against Dalits

Summary:

A Dalit family was set ablaze in Haryana recently. Many would term this as just another incident of violencebetween communities and a law and order problem. However, Such incidents show that individuals are gettinglost in the identities of caste and religion. The usual politics and blame game has continued over the incident.

Reports show that atrocities against Dalits in the last decade in Haryana have increased by 271%. Variouslegislations and awareness programs have had a very little effect. It is also being said that the mindset of uppercastes, particularly the conservative traditional people, have not changed and this is the main reason behind therise in number of atrocities cases. It is a basic attitude problem. Caste and democracy are face to face. And Indianconstitution is on trial today. It is one of those constitutions, which promised justice – social, economical andpolitical – and that gave an affirmative action. In terms of gains, Haryana has been a success story, but it isgenerally said that democratic dividends are missing in Haryana.

Close to seven decades after Independence, in many villages of India the nature of certain social equations hasnot changed from what they have been for centuries. Such villages continue to remain what Dr. B.R. Ambedkarcalled “sinks of localism, dens of ignorance and narrow-mindedness ”. Discrimination against Dalits iswidespread and ingrained in the psyche across India, in rural settings in particular. In some places it takes theform of violent oppression, in others it is disguised yet omnipresent. These recurring incidents raise the questionwhether state response and constitutionalism alone are enough to overcome longstanding social injustice andprejudices.

The Constitution guarantees the right to equality of all citizens and affirmative action for Dalits. But withoutprogressive social consciousness permeating society at large, constitutionalism, state actions and politicalequations simply do not suffice. It would help if the political actors also believed in and worked as conduits forsocial transformation.

Caste is the ultimate reality in India. In a country where most people passionately cling on to their caste identities,the prejudices and the dehumanizing culture engendered by the caste system is passed on from one generationto the next. The biggest anomaly of our democracy is that the focus has shifted away from social justice andhuman rights protection. The mainstream discourse stays focused on the economic, electoral and technologicalchanges for contributing to better standards of living, but we have paid only intermittent attention to thefountainheads of inequality in our society.

To monitor atrocities perpetrated against Dalits and Adivasis and to ensure speedy justice, a unique web-basedtool — Atrocity Tracking and Monitoring (ATM) System — has been launched. The initiative falls under the aegis ofthe National Coalition for Strengthening SC/ST PoA Act (NCSPOA) by the National Dalit Movement for Justice(NDMJ).

The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was enacted to prevent atrocities againstscheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The Act is popularly known as POA, the SC/ST Act, the Prevention ofAtrocities Act, or simply the Atrocities Act.

Crime vs. atrocity

According to the Act, the term atrocity “denotes the quality of being shockingly cruel and inhumane,” whereas the

term ‘crime’ relates to an act punishable by law.

It implies “any offence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) committed against SCs by non-SC persons, or againstSTs by non-ST persons. Caste consideration as a motive is not necessary to make such an offence in case ofatrocity.”

Why the atrocities?

According to the National Commission for SCs and STs, “Economic dependency of the poor on rich non-SC/STpersons, social discrimination arising out of the practice of untouchability and the age-old urge to subjugate theweakest of the weaker sections make SCs/STs vulnerable and victims of atrocities…”

Offences

The Act lists 22 offences relating to various patterns of behaviors inflicting criminal offences for shattering the self-respect and esteem of SCs and STs, denial of economic, democratic and social rights, discrimination, exploitationand abuse of the legal process, etc.

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